A/N: I heard the song "I Cry" by Flo Rida, and this story sort of tumbled out of my fingers. People don't actually cry in this story. *SPOILER* Warning, there be Wonderbeetle up ahead. And a bit of angst. I'm wondering if Grandon will ever put Blue Beetle on mode for real...

For Jncera. Are you shipping this YET? ;)

Disclaimer: I know, gave up on the riddle. I cry just a little when I think CN is going to let this show go...

I Cry

I know,
Caught up in the middle,
I cry just a little
When I think of letting go.

In every crisis, there comes a moment of resounding clarity as though everything surrounding the scenario is unfolding through a slow motion crystal lens. It's like the body is giving the mind a few borrowed moments of time to assess the situation and come up with a plan of action. Sight becomes the sharpest sense, observing superfluous detail as voices and screams are muffled through fog. The metallic tinge of blood at the base of the tongue fades, and the excruciating pain from the last blow becomes numb.

It is in this very moment that Cassie found herself, lost in the empty gaze of a former friend, willing herself not to waste the precious seconds of the surreal daydream. Familiarity and foreignness swirl in undulating tandem; she had been in this very situation three months ago. Only the black armor had now been replaced with blue, and the inside of her chest throbbed more than her spine.

Jaime stared at her through those opaque orange slits—but no, that wasn't right. Jaime was no longer in control. Bart had yelled something about Blue Beetle being "moded" before the plasma canon went off. And Cassie realized that having a speedster teammate came in really, REALLY handy. Especially when there was no possible way she, Robin, Beast Boy, or Lagoon Boy would have reacted in time to move out of the line of fire.

Impulse may have run into Blue Beetle to knock the deadly beam askew from his prone teammates, but the speedster was now the vulnerable one within grasp of the irate Reach agent. Bart didn't have time to recover before Blue Beetle picked him up and hurled him across the room into the opposite wall.

The rest of their follow-up combined attack proved to be just as ineffective. No matter how many batarangs Tim tossed or how big L'gann grew or how many different animals Garfield changed into or how many punches Cassie landed, Jaime kept giving back more.

An unconscious Lagoon Boy was followed shortly thereafter by a limp Robin and Beast Boy, all thrown carelessly in the direction of Impulse.

Cassie knew she wasn't the last one standing because of her skills as a fighter, but because of her stamina and her ability to take hit after hit after hit. Unfortunately, her strength was slowly ebbing away along with her body's desire to remain awake, to fight back.

He had her shoved against the wall, his metallic hands pressing into her shoulders as though willing them to sink through layers of cement and steel. A wave of nostalgia briefly coursed through Wonder Girl's mind, and she wondered if deep down, in that shell of a suit, Jaime felt it too.

They were in this same position not two weeks ago. Jaime, for the first time since joining the team, had successfully pinned Cassie during sparring practice. She was pushed against the wall with her arms crossed over and locked into place in his iron grip. His face was contorted into the deepest look of concentration, and Cassie had to laugh at the seriousness of his expression. Then, and only then did he seem to realize the position they were in, the proximity of his face from hers, her body trembling with laughter against his. If she could have seen his face through the armor, she was certain it would have been as red as Bart's hair.

"Sorry, Cassie! I didn't mean-" But whatever he didn't mean she would never find out. Before he could back away, Wonder Girl wrapped her legs around his waist and used her momentum to send them crashing to the ground, rolling full circle before triumphantly immobilizing Blue Beetle beneath her.

"Gotcha," she smirked, unaware of the plasma weapon forming beneath her palms.

"Ummm…Cass? You might want to move before the scarab activates the cannon." His voice was nervous, but it wouldn't register until later that it may not have been because the scarab was turning violent.

Her grin was feral. "Why? You not up for round two?"

A silent debate danced across the boy's face. He muttered several unintelligible phrases that sounded suspiciously like "no incinerating" and "leave ALL limbs intact" before meeting Cassie's gaze.

"Alright, Wonder Girl. Round two." And before she could blink, Cassie was back up against the wall, several giant staples holding her into place. Blue Beetle stood up, looking far too pleased with himself at the trick.

Cassie huffed. "Cheater." She stuck her tongue out for good measure.

It was Jaime's turn to laugh as he pulled one end of the metallic spike out. "How about round three? We need a tiebreaker…"

His smile was friendly and inviting with just the barest hint of a challenge, daring her to accept. Her competitive spirit rekindled.

"Deal."

Somehow, round three turned into round six…which was followed by victory ice cream in Happy Harbor…which then turned into two hours of conversation and the promise that he would help her later that week with biology homework.

And of course the help session turned into a live reenactment of meiosis with help from an eager Garfield, a skeptical Tim, and a very amused Barbara and M'gann. The demonstration made Cassie laugh, but it was Jaime's tidy drawings in the margins of her notebook that she continued to reflect on long after she went home.

They were actually supposed to work on homework together that very night in the team's makeshift home base. She had been expecting him to arrive four hours ago like they originally planned, but with no Blue in sight, she ended up spending most of that time alternating between memorizing photosynthesis pathways and writing down painful ways to eviscerate boys that stood up friends on study dates.

Date. That word had surfaced entirely to Cassie's surprise. She wondered what nonsensical daydream her brain had extracted that meaning from to apply to this situation, because these were certainly NOT dates. Dates involved dinner and movies and ice cream-

Bart had set off the intruder alarm at this point for the third time that month, choosing to vibrate through the walls instead of using the doors and zeta tubes like a normal person. Cassie didn't even have time to berate him for violating protocol before he was yelling instructions.

"GUYS! We've got to evacuate! Blue's just been moded and he's—"

"Neptune's BEARD, Impulse! Can't you zap in like everyone else?" L'gann interrupted over the sirens, entering the room with Robin and Beast Boy.

"WE NEED TO GET OUT NOW!" Impulse shouted, ignoring L'gann. "The Reach got ahold of Jaime! He's been moded!" He ran over to Robin. "Quick! Don't let-"

"Recognized, Blue Beetle, B22."

Bart had averted the first blast, but the one aimed into her heart found its mark. "Jaime," she whispered, her voice wavering, betraying her despair.

"Jaime is no longer in control, meat." The suit replied, pushing her further into the concrete. Images of her previous encounter with Black Beetle rushed to the forefront of her mind, and Cassie tried not to let her fear seep through.

"Jaime!" She yelled, voice cracking from exhaustion. "JAIME! FIGHT HIM!"

SLAM.

Her body tensed in terror for just a moment. But something else was triggered, and Cassie wasn't going to throw in the towel. Not just yet.

The surprise was evident on Blue Beetle's face when she wrapped her legs around his waist. And, with all the strength and anger she usually saved for sparring with Superboy and her mentor, Cassie twisted them downward, using the element of surprise to restrain him, if only temporarily. Shock was apparent across his face, and she prayed that maybe the emotions from the real Jaime were shining through.

The effectiveness of the sudden attack was waning, plasma canons with the wide dispersal beams were morphing beneath her hands, which were holding his arms down in the strongest deathlock she could muster. But even as the weapons formed, Cassie could sense the struggle against her wasn't entirely to break free.

"Cassie." The voice was wispy and faraway; had she not been pressed so close, Wonder Girl was certain she would never have heard it. But it was definitely not her imagination when his wide, dark brown eyes briefly became visible through the orange lenses staring directly up at her.

"Run," was all he managed to get out before his gaze was obscured from her and the armor's jet pack was activated, sending them both careening toward the wall. Cassie's back stopped them in their tracks.

"I will enjoy eliminating you first," the Reach agent smirked. Her blood turned cold, her body unable to muster any strength to resist the canon now aimed at her head.

There was a bright flash of light, and for a moment Cassie thought it might have been Blue Beetle firing off the gun. Time slowed down again. Her eyes flitted to the enemy in front of her, the same armor encasing the boy that she recruited, that she dragged to team activities, that helped her with biology and told her she had a nice smile.

And in all honesty, she just genuinely liked Jaime. He was a newbie like her, and they were learning the ropes together. They messed up operations and adapted and kept getting better with each mission under their belt. She was always the one to stand up for him when she felt like he was being overlooked. And he returned the favor by refusing to allow her to wallow in self-doubt when a covert assignment had gone south because she royally screwed up the "covert" part.

She slid from his grip to the floor, watching as Blue Beetle clutched at his head and turned to the source of the beam. It was a pulse generator held by Nightwing, and its frequency was apparently causing the blue armor incredible distress.

Despite the harm just inflicted upon her, Cassie's first instinct was to rush toward Jaime, to protect him from the onslaught of pain and suffering wreaked by the sonic waves.

"Stand back, Wonder Girl!" Nightwing commanded as he walked closer to the now prone Blue Beetle doubled over on his hands and knees. The orange eyes glared at the older boy holding the very tool to his undoing.

"I will find you and repay this pain tenfold," he growled at Nightwing before collapsing to the floor, unconscious.

Nightwing seemed to read Cassie's thoughts, because he was still shouting for her to stay away. The sonic pulses had not diminished, and slowly, the armor retracted, revealing a shirtless Jaime sprawled across the cold tile. The scarab retracted completely before detaching from Jaime's spine and clattering to the floor. The echo of metal onto ceramic seemed louder than the entire ruckus created by the battle not moments ago.

Cassie didn't care what Nightwing ordered anymore and practically flung herself to the ground, pulling her teammate onto her lap and checking for a pulse. His breaths were slow and shallow, but she could feel his jugular pounding strongly beneath her fingertips. She looked up to see Nightwing crouched next to her, picking up the scarab with a pair of tongs and putting it within a containment chamber not unlike the pods they found the missing children in.

Attaching the container to his utility belt, the older boy spoke. "Come on, Cassie. Let's get these guys to the med bay."

Cassie was sitting in a chair beside his cot, pouring over her science textbook when his dark eyes finally fluttered open. "Cass?" Jaime questioned, observing the blonde, not fully convinced he wasn't dreaming.

She set the book down on the bedside table, finding one of his hands and pulling it between both of hers. "It's okay, Jaime. You're at the team's base."

"How long was I out?"

"About two hours," she reported dutifully. "And don't worry; we called your family to let them know you're safe."

"What about the others? Are they okay?"

"Everyone is fine," she lied. She didn't need him feeling guilty about Bart's cracked rib and L'gaan's concussion right now.

"The scarab?" His voice trailed off, not certain he wanted to know the answer.

"Nightwing was able to remove it by emitting some sort of sonic frequency at it," she told him. "It's in a Reach container until we can figure out how to destroy it."

"NO!" Jaime exclaimed, sitting up rapidly and clutching his abdomen as he tried to climb out of the bed. "He was only trying to save me! You can't kill him!"

Cassie had never seen Jaime defend the scarab before. If anything, the piece of tech seemed to cause the boy more distress than it was worth. And now, here he was trying to leave the infirmary to go save the very thing that caused him to turn on his friends.

"Hold up!" Cassie put both hands on the boy's shoulders, forcing him to sit back on the mattress. "This thing took control of you and tried to kill all of us. And now you want to save it?"

Nightwing chose that moment to walk into the room, shutting the door behind him. "How are you feel-"

"Don't kill him!" Jaime interrupted, struggling under the weight of Cassie's hands to stand up. "It wasn't his fault!"

Nightwing's eyebrows rose. "Not whose fault?"

"Khaji-Da! The scarab! They were going to kill me unless he allowed himself to be programmed back on mode," Jaime told their leader.

"Be that as it may, we can't risk another rogue Reach agent. If it was programmed back on mode like you said, then chances are it will attack us should it find another host. We have to get rid of it," Nightwing reasoned.

"No! We don't have to kill him because he wrote a separate program before going back to mode," Jaime objected. "If the scarab were somehow removed from me, it would trigger a reset back to its programming before being put on mode."

"Maybe this is true," Nighwing began, "But the only way to know for sure is to let it reattach to another person. And I'm not willing to take that risk."

"Why not, ese? You could just point that pulse generator back at me until the scarab comes off again," Jaime argued.

Nightwing looked like he was about to disagree, so Cassie, who had remained silent throughout the conversation, interjected.

"Let him do it, boss."

"Wonder Girl, I don't think you understand what's at st—"

"Let him do it," she interrupted, taking her hands from Jaime's shoulders and turning to face her leader fully. "The worst that could happen is he has to go through the process of removing the scarab again. And if it works, we get our advantage over the Reach back." She chanced a glance back at Jaime who returned it with a grateful look.

The older boy took in the faces of his two younger teammates and wondered when he had unconsciously taught them to question authority. "Fine, but not tonight. Tonight-"

There were strong objections from both Jaime and Cassie at this point, causing Nightwing to finally toss his hands in the air and to tell the duo to give him ten minutes.

He eventually radioed Cassie to bring Jaime out of the medical ward to the sparring arena so none of his recovering teammates would be in any immediate danger. Handing Wonder Girl an extra emitter, Nightwing gave Jaime the container holding the blue scarab before backing up a good eight feet.

"Ready?" Jaime asked, looking between the two and waiting for Nightwing's nod before opening the lid and pulling out the Reach technology.

The blue metal stood still for several moments, and Jaime was afraid that maybe it was too late. But then the legs and pincers clicked with life, and, with a wave of nostalgia, Jaime felt the scarab crawl up his arm and attach to his spine. It was just as painful as he remembered, but he tried bottle up all sounds of distress for fear that Nightwing and Cassie might get trigger-happy with the emitters.

Soon he was completely encased in the blue armor, waiting for that little voice to appear back in the quiet recesses of his mind. The voice that ignited with a warrior spirit and an eagerness that had gradually become contagious to his host.

"Khaji-Da?" He whispered, holding his breath. The seconds stretched; his lungs began to demand air.

Sensors indicate you will asphyxiate should you continue to refuse oxygen intake, Jaime Reyes.

Jaime exhaled, a grin tugging at his lips. "Khaji, are you-"

I have reverted to my corrupted programming and am in the process of deleting all Reach mode data, the scarab informed him.

"Can you prove—"

Jaime didn't get to finish his sentence; Wonder Girl had hug tackled him to the ground. Nightwing came closer, the emitter still pointed at Blue Beetle.

She had him pinned beneath her, his wrists held in a grip so tight he could feel it through the armor. "Blue?" The unspoken question lingered in her eyes, a darker cerulean in the shadow of her bangs. Her blonde hair was nearly tickling his cheek as she leaned over.

Forming plasma cannon. The Wonder Girl is-

"Don't even start," Jaime warned, tilting his head in such a way that Cassie knew he wasn't speaking to her. She could feel his armor morph beneath her palms.

"Scarab still doesn't like me?" The blonde quipped, casting a glance down at the partially-formed weapon.

Jaime rolled his eyes. "The scarab doesn't like the excess of chemicals I emit when you're around."

Cassie snapped her gaze back to his, and it took Jaime approximately seven nanoseconds to realize what he had just said.

"I mean-"

Nightwing cleared his throat, interrupting whatever moment was forming between the younger teammates. "It appears the scarab's program succeeded, but I'd still like to keep you overnight for observation."

Jaime's mind was still muddled from Cassie's proximity.

Say yes, Jaime, the scarab commanded irritatedly. Then remove yourself from the Wonder Girl that YOU may get off YOUR mode that she puts you on when in her presence.

Jaime didn't think it possible that the scarab could make him feel any more awkward, but clearly it wasn't through surprising him.

Cassie seemed to realize her position and hastily clambered off her teammate, pulling him up off the ground. Together they followed Nightwing to a holding cell off in a more remote corridor. Wonder Girl, realizing what their leader was proposing, began to protest over having Jaime treated like some sort of criminal. But Jaime placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, saying it was for the best, and walked into the room.

After waiting for the click of the lock and the soft hum of the electrical force field put into place, Jaime retracted the armor and collapsed into the cot in the corner. The cool air felt pleasant across his bare back, skimming gently across his skin and drying the sweat that had accumulated from the fight. He buried his head in the hard pillow, wishing for something softer but too exhausted to really care. There were no clocks in the barren room, but Khaji-Da had informed him it was after two in the morning.

The sixteen year old's consciousness had almost slipped into dreamland when the scarab jerked him back into a more alert state.

The door is opening. Assembling armor-

"No," Jaime mumbled into the pillow, mentally resisting his armor's activation and trying to ignore any and all racket so he could finally get some sleep.

"Jaime?"

That voice caused his eyes to snap open faster than anything Khaji-Da could say. "Cassie?" He sat up, wishing for a shirt and feeling oddly vulnerable. "Is everything okay?"

She looked shy standing in front of the closed door, biology book clutched in her hand. Jaime thought he saw a flush of pink across her cheeks, but a moment later it was gone, and her face was set with determined purpose. "It's just…we were supposed to go over biology together," she finished lamely, looking everywhere but his face.

The Wonder Girl's voice patterns indicate ulterior motives. Do not trust her.

"You want to go over it now?" Jaime asked, trying to block out the scarab.

"Well, it is due tomorrow—make that today," she pointed out, happy that he was buying her excuse to spend a bit more time with him. She had made sure to tuck away her completed homework sheet in her messenger bag back in the living room. "I mean, if you're too tired I could—"

"No!" Jaime blurted out before composing himself. "I mean, I'm not too tired," he amended, scooting over on the narrow bed and patting the empty space next to him. He hoped she would attribute his red face to the physical exertion from fighting and not because he found her all sorts of beautiful.

She sat right next to him, leaning into his bare side under the pretense that it was a more convenient position to share the biology book. In a moment of daring, she flipped through the heavy textbook to the back sections that her class hadn't even touched yet. Cassie stopped at the chapter titled "Hormones: The Body's Messengers" and looked up expectantly.

Jaime sucked in a quick breath of air; he could have sworn she said they were covering photosynthesis.

Jaime, if you do not feel able to explain this subject in an adequate manner, I can take over and-

He mentally yelled at the scarab. The last thing he needed was for Khaji-Da to take over his body and explain how his hormones were responding to her presence.

"Well?" She raised an eyebrow at him, a challenge. He recognized that almost-smirk tugging at her lips—it was the same one she wore when they sparred, when he'd find a cheesy way to explain something science-y to her, and when they laughed over ice cream and he told her she had a nice smile.

Two could play this game.

He leaned closer into her, pretending to read the small print while simultaneously sliding his arm until their other hands were barely touching. "Yeah," he exhaled, turning to meet her gaze, vibrantly azure and sparkling with something more mischievous than friendship. "What do you know about the hypothalamus?"

When I need a healing, I just look up to the ceiling.

I see the sun coming down; I know it's all better now.